event handler not firing for dataList edit item

[Wee Bubba]

if you put a row of my dataList into edit mode there is a button. I am
trying to attach to an existing event handler like this (C#):

public void EditRowHandler (Object src, DataListCommandEventArgs e)
{
...
Button myBtnt = (Button)
dl1.Items[e.Item.ItemIndex].FindControl("btnSMEdit");

myBtn.Click += new EventHandler(btnSearch_Click);
}

i know the code has successfully captured my button because I can
alter the button's Text property OK. also from debugging I know my
event handler is not even being called for some reason.

why is my button not calling the event handler?